Relieved it’s ‘just’ a fractured hand. That being said, you can’t rush back from that and play the same level of defense so I hope Russ fully cures it. Seeding isn’t that great anyway, it’ll be a lot about the matchup and most importantly health.

Tough injury for Russ as this was the 2nd consecutive game where he had played a good game in his ‘on the ball’ possessions, but the injury does force Ty Lue to use the younger legs on the bench: Bones & Kobe, and to play T-Mann more minutes at the point. The end result is that James Harden’s minutes come down b/c we’ll get steadier play out of the 2nd unit where we’re not always under duress trying to run back on defense after bad possessions. More Mann, Coffey, Bones (and hopefully Kobe) is going to keep Harden’s minutes low. Harden can take this team to the title if he has his legs under him. He was incredible tonight and in the first 2 and a half quarters vs LAL. Preserve that dude’s legs and we’ll be good.